At the end of the first half, France led by three points after a low scoring first half between both teams. Spain scored 17 points in both quarters while France had 22 points in the first quarter and just 15 in the second quarter. If you do the Math, France led 37-34 at the end of the first 20 minutes of the game. Spain would then have to reevaluate their first half performance and in the third quarter there wasn’t much difference on the offensive end. However, defensively, Spain would show signs of shutting down France only allowing France to score 16 points in the third as Spain finished with 17 once again.

In the fourth quarter, Spain’s offense would still continue to fluster but their defense would be top-notch as they would finally take the lead for the first time (at 5:35 left in the game) since they had a one point lead with around half a quarter to play in the third. After a Serge Llull two handed dunk, Spain had the lead and the momentum. France would never be able to score until 5 seconds were left on the game clock. Spain’s offense wouldn’t be pretty as well as they would only go on to score 8 points with 5 minutes left in the game. Final score 66-59.

In the fourth quarter Spain would hold France to just 6 points with Tony Parker scoring 0 points in the final quarter. Parker would go 0 for 3 in the final quarter as he would painfully witness his team get smothered by Spain’s tough and lengthy defense led by the Gasol brothers who combined for 19 rebounds.

Before coming into the game, France had high hopes of pulling off an upset as France has been playing fantastic basketball ever since losing to USA in their opening game in the 2012 London Olympics. Through the first half of this game, France looked poised for an upset and was ready to set a date with Andrei Kirilenko and Russia. Unfortunately, the 2008 silver medalists Spain have Team USA on their mind and most of all a gold medal. To leave the Olympics without a medal is something Spain will never be able to accept. And despite not having a good offensive game play, they resorted to their defense and boy did it ever work.

Memphis Grizzlies big man Marc Gasol would lead the way for Spain with 14 points and would pull down 8 rebounds. Older brother Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers would chip in with a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Captain, guard, Juan Carlos Navarro would help out with 12 points and would grab 6 boards as well. Off the bench shot blocker Serge Ibaka would only score 4 points but would have 5 rebounds. Despite having close team stats from rebounds to turnovers, Spain’s defense and intensity on the defensive end would be the key to their victory which can’t be seen on the box score.

For France, San Antonio Spurs forward Boris Diaw would lead the way with 15 points and would still manage to grab 8 rebounds going up against two seven footers in the Gasol brothers. Fellow Spurs teammate and France captain, Tony Parker, would chip in with 15 points as well but would shoot 6 for 20 from the field. Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum would only score 9 points on 3 for 12 shooting. Off the bench Florence Pietrus, the brother of NBA free agent guard Mickael Pietrus, would pour in 10 point.

This win for Spain is something they must be both proud of and something they shouldn’t be happy about. Their defense was on target today but if they are to beat Russia in the next round or even Team USA, who is expected to be seen in the final round, Spain will still need some offense against these two teams and yes, defense wins championships, but defense is pointless if you can’t score.

With France eliminated, Spain will move on to face Russia in a rematch of an earlier pool play contest where Russia shocked Spain by beating them 77-74.

The semi-final game between Spain and Russia will tip off at 11:00 AM CT. 

During the start of the 2012 London Olympics Men’s basketball pool play, France was honestly one team I must admit I overlooked. I honestly didn’t expect them to even make the quarterfinals as I thought that China would find a way to make it despite no longer having center Yao Ming on their roster.

But France has prevailed and are now on the bigger stage in the Olympics. It’s somewhat like the NBA Playoffs but every single game must be taken as like a Game 7, there’s no other game to bounce back from a loss. One loss and you’re out. Simple as that. This is where stars will shine and unknown players emerge from the bench.

France is a team led primarily by San Antonio Spurs point guard, Tony Parker, who in the Olympic games thus far hasn’t really been a point guard. He has been their primary scorer and not the Tony Parker we normally see on a regular basis in San Antonio. However, it has been working and France is still winning. In the win against Argentina during pool play, Parker was basically taking every shot and forcing tough shots. Luckily, France won that game.

Going up against Spanish guards such as Juan Carlos Navarro and Toronto Raptors floor general, Jose Calderon, Parker has some challenges he has to face. Outside of Parker however, France still has some young and solid talents that could help France advance.

Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum will come in handy as a wing player as Spain will most likely put Batum’s future NBA teammate, Victor Claver, on him. In 2010 Claver, has been awarded as the Eurocups Rising Star and this 23 year old can also dunk very well much like Batum. That matchup will certainly be entertaining for us and mostly Blazers fans.

San Antonio Spurs forward Boris Diaw and Los Angeles Clippers center Ronny Turiaf will definitely have their hands full tomorrow as they will be taking on the Gasol brothers. Diaw and Turiaf both stand at 6 foot 8 and 6 foot 10 respectively, but the two Gasols are both 7 footers who obviously have proven to have better inside skills than almost every other big man in the NBA.  Throughout his NBA career, Marc Gasol has been growing steadily and is now, in my opinion, the third best center in the NBA behind Andrew Bynum and Dwight Howard. Marc is quite possibly also the best passing big man in the game as we have witnessed from watching him play on the Memphis Grizzlies. Pau on the other hand is still one of the best power forwards, and going up against Diaw, it will definitely be easy.

Rebounding will obviously be a problem for France because not only does Spain have the Gasols but they also have Serge Ibaka, who just joined the team this year. Ibaka, who plays with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that eliminated Parker and Diaw’s Spurs in the recent NBA Playoffs, will be one of the most active players on both ends. Defense is where Ibaka will mostly come in as he will be capable to stopping Parker from dominating the paint as he normally can do.

Defensively for France, they’ll just have to double team the Gasols and rotate quickly before either of them finds an open jumpshooter like Rudy Fernandez who can ignite a spark on the team with his energy. Off the bench for France, Washington Wizards center Kevin Seraphin has shown positive signs during the Olympics thus far and has worked very well with Tony Parker. Getting offensive rebounds and putting in put back shots is one thing the 22 year old can do. With Batum most likely to play the shooting guard spot with former NBA player Mickael Gelabale, France will have some length advantage there.

Spain has already been criticized as of late for not being the team most of us expected them to be. Most of us expected them to make the gold medal game where they would face Team USA in a rematch of the 2008 Beijing Olympics epic gold medal game. Spain has a chip on their shoulder and the only way to get rid of it, is to face Team USA and win. But first they have to eliminate France. It won’t be that easy, but I still see Spain pulling off a convincing victory.

My prediction: Spain wins

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